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Sports Centre sets sights on 2010

It takes about 10,000 hours, or 10 years of focused training to produce one Olympic calibre athlete. By that reckoning, the province’s aspirations to put B.C.

It takes about 10,000 hours, or 10 years of focused training to produce one Olympic calibre athlete. By that reckoning, the province’s aspirations to put B.C. athletes on podiums in the 2010 Olympics, whether the Games are awarded to Vancouver-Whistler or not, are already two years behind.

"We’ve got some catching up to do," says Todd Allison, the general manager of the Telus Whistler Sports Centre. "People wonder why we’re investing in medals now – why not wait until we win the bid and then create some fast track programs? We’ve done it before and it didn’t work. You have to get to the kids when they’re young."

Allison spoke Jan. 22, at the 10th fireside chat on the 2010 bid, about the goals of the centre and the programs that are already being offering around the province.

"Sports Canada tends to focus all of its funding on athletes who are already in the high performance program, and funds sports based on their success in the Olympics – the better they do the more money they get," says Allison. "That leaves a lot of athletes scrambling to make podiums without a lot of support, and doesn’t do much for the kids out there, our future Olympians. Part of the reason is that funding is always limited, and you have to go with your strengths. For a program like this, we’ve had to find new sources of funding, and do it ourselves. We’ve invested ourselves."

The Telus Whistler Sports Centre is part of the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Bid Corporation’s LegaciesNow program, a joint effort between the province, the Bid Corporation and the Bid’s corporate supporters. It was created to provide lasting sports development legacies, support, coaching and funding for potential Olympic athletes.

LegaciesNow funds the Telus Whistler Sports Centre. It was established last year to build a support network for Canada’s high-performance athletes living and training in the Sea to Sky corridor, and to introduce the youth of B.C. to the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines within the Alpine, Nordic and Sliding sport families.

That mandate includes sport promotion, athlete recruitment, and support services for the coaches and kids who show potential in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, Nordic combined, bobsled, luge, and skeleton. Paralympic sports are also included in the centre’s mandate, including the development of alpine, cross country and biathlon athletes.

The other winter sports, such as hockey, curling, and figure skating, are already well-served by club or league systems, or by the Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA).

According to Allison, the centre’s activities are already having an impact on recruitment, and programs are currently underway to expand the program even further this summer.

Some of the programs that are underway, or are planned for the next year, include:

• Biathlon – Teaching kids cross country ski techniques, and how to use a special echo rifle that doesn’t require live ammunition. The echo rifle, street luge, and other sports equipment will travel the province in the centre’s Sports Caravan this summer, exposing as many kids as possible to these sports.

• Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton – The centre has already taken their street luge on the road, setting up courses in Kimberley and Abbotsford. Other towns will follow. The centre’s Sports Caravan van will also travel around the province testing athletes like rugby players and soccer players over a 20 metre sprint to identify strong pushers for the bobsled. The top kids from the luge and 20 metre spring – seven have been selected so far – are being sent to the CODA facilities in Calgary to try the sport for real.

• Ski jumping, Nordic combined – The centre will be building 20 metre "starter" jumps at ski areas around the province, starting with resorts in the Kootenays, and inviting kids to try it out. They will be given a demonstration, instruction and equipment. The interested kids will be encouraged to try larger jumps and the best will be sent to Calgary.

• Freestyle, Snowboarding – The centre will be attracting athletes from primary sports like gymnastics and alpine skiing that have gone as far as they can go, and giving them a chance to try something new. For kids who already snowboard, the centre is sending coaches to provincial snowboard events to run alpine and halfpipe clinics and demonstrate what coaching can do for their sport.

• Paralympic disciplines – The centre will expose more disabled kids to Whistler-Blackcomb’s Adaptive Skier Program, and encourage them to keep going.

• Nordic Sports – The centre, through the extensive cross country ski club network in the province, will expose more kids to the sport and extend the programs currently offered to younger kids (e.g. the Whistler Jack Rabbits and Pemberton Spud Valley programs) to adolescents and teenagers. Cross Country B.C. recently hired a Level 3 Cross Country coach to work with clubs, coaches and skiers in the Sea to Sky area for the month of January.

• Alpine Skiing – Although Alpine skiing is in a lot better shape than other sports thanks to a strong club system, this summer the centre held a special "Best to Best" week where members of the national team could work closely with younger skiers at the club level, giving them advice and inspiring them to take their skiing up a notch.

With these programs in place to either introduce kids to sports or encourage kids to take it to the next level, Allison is confident that the centre can be successful in its goals to put athletes on the 2010 podium.

"I was there in Kimberley and Abbotsford when we brought out the street luge and it was just amazing to see kids who had absolutely no experience with the sport get right into it. We’d start halfway up the hill to let them get used to it, and by the end of the day they were steering their way around these cones.

"One girl who was an alpine skier with the local club, knew how to pick a fast line around the cones, when to lean in and when to pull out, and she was just amazing. She was one of the kids we’re sending to Calgary."

According to Allison, there are only 22 women doing luge in Canada, which puts almost any athlete who gets into the sport today in contention for a spot on the Canadian team in the future, and a shot at a medal.

Tapping into graduates from primary sports like gymnastics and alpine skiing for athletes will also have an effect.

"There are kids who are 14 who are basically retired from their sport because they missed the cut to make it to the next level, and are considered too old to coach. These kids have shown that they have the skills to pick up any sport and excel at it," he says.

While Allison’s focus is B.C., he’s spoken with sports officials in other provinces, and there is an opportunity to take the program nation-wide. That would create more competition for younger age groups, and push up the level of competition in many sports. A higher level of competition will lead to a higher level of athlete.

"We won’t know until 2010, but at least we’re taking the steps now," says Allison. "We’re the first bid to create a legacies program on the ground before we’ve been accepted as an official bid."

The Telus Whistler Sports Centre office will be located in the new 2010 Whistler Community Office. The office, which was donated by the Park Georgia Group, is having its grand opening on Friday, Jan. 25, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. It’s located on the Village Stroll near the Brew House.